Microfund for Women’s Caregiver Experience: Lessons from ... · microfund for women’s caregiver experience. 6 2006 2007 2009 jan 2010 feb 2010 mar 2010 apr 2010 april-may 2010

Microfund for Women’s

Caregiver Experience:

Lessons from Jordan

on Health Microinsurance

In partnership with Credit Suisse

2

Research has shown that healthcare costs often exert the

most financial pressure on poor families. Moreover,

medical problems are compounded by the fact that the

poor are less likely to seek treatment early in an illness for

fear of losing income by taking time away from their

families or businesses. Meeting the costs of an unexpected

health emergency is the most common reason women

give for having to liquidate or de-capitalize their businesses.

These circumstances only serve as a catalyst for moving

further into poverty, depriving families of the tools they

once had to generate revenue. Given the negative impact

a health emergency can have, microinsurance has

tremendous potential to provide security and stability to

a poor household.

In 2010, Jordan’s Microfund for Women (MFW) piloted

“Caregiver,” the country’s first private health microinsurance

offering, in partnership with Women’s World Banking.

The Caregiver product has succeeded beyond expectations

despite numerous obstacles. Insurance is an inherently

risky business—all the more so when the target clientele

are lower-income, more vulnerable populations. In

keeping with Women’s World Banking’s philosophy of

developing products that will be sustainable, Caregiver

needed to be a product that would increase retention

and overall client satisfaction. The Caregiver product was

mandatory for all MFW clients as a condition of access

to credit, and if customers had disliked the insurance, they

could have taken their business, including the microcredit

portfolio, elsewhere. Most important, as the first movers,

MFW faced significant work to educate the local market.

Health microinsurance was an unfamiliar product, not

just to the clients themselves but to MFW’s own staff, to

health-care providers, local insurers and regulators.

To obtain a deep understanding of clients’ health insurance

needs, MFW and Women’s World Banking conducted

extensive pre-launch research and planning. Among the

findings was the high priority clients placed on maternity

coverage, a benefit that the insurer was at first reluctant

to offer; its eventual inclusion played a decisive role in

driving customer satisfaction.

This paper explores the factors that contributed to

Caregiver’s success, the lessons learned during the first

two years of operation in Jordan, and the priority

considerations for Caregiver’s planned replication in other

markets. Among the most important success factors was the

decision to offer “gap” coverage. For many clients, especially

in Jordan, a country that has reasonable healthcare

infrastructure, the direct costs of care do not necessarily

represent the only, or even the largest, financial burden. Of

much greater consequence is the potential lost income if the

business has to be suspended while the microentrepreneur

deals with a health crisis (her own or a family member’s).

This loss of income often forces the client to sell off

productive assets (e.g., equipment, livestock) for ready cash.

Lesser but still potentially significant expenses such as cost

of medications and indirect costs include transportation

to the hospital (especially for rural dwellers), and food

purchases while away from home. A key principle in the

design of the Caregiver product was to bridge the gap

between the direct costs of care and the full costs clients

actually face when confronted with a health episode.

The success of the Caregiver experience has inspired

Women’s World Banking to begin plans to replicate the

product in other markets within its global network.

The opportunity to provide low-income women and their

families with microinsurance shows great promise.

Executive Summary

women’s world banking 3

microfund for women’s caregiver experience

The early successes of the modern microcredit industry

that began in the 1970s proved two points. First, low-income

people could be viable customers for financial services.

They paid back loans on time and proved themselves

willing and able to pay interest rates that covered the

significantly higher operating costs associated with low-

balance lending. Second, microcredit alone was insufficient.

Like people in other income brackets, microfinance

clients need a full suite of financial services, not just credit

but savings and insurance.

Health insurance was a particularly urgent need. Because

most of the world’s poor are self-employed in the informal

economy, their own labor is effectively their biggest asset.

At the same time, they also live in conditions that leave

them more vulnerable to illness and injury because of

poor sanitary conditions, hazardous work environments,

primitive infrastructure, or a combination thereof. In

other words, this necessary reliance on their own physical

labor for their own economic survival places the

developing world’s self-employed poor in a double bind.

And finally, the poor lack the financial resources to

respond quickly. Any health episode can quickly exhaust

meager savings and, as noted above, force a family to sell

off assets, often for a fraction of their worth, destroying

future earning potential to meet urgent present needs.

The need to provide women with healthcare and the means

to pay for it is acute.

Women comprise 70 percent of the world’s poor. They

typically earn less income than men and have less

ownership and control of property, yet they tend to be the

primary caretaker for their families. Women have a unique

and pressing need for appropriate means to manage

health-related risk. Despite the challenges that women face,

Women’s World Banking’s studies have shown that women

tend to save money and handle risk more responsibly

than men. Women typically utilize their earnings to

improve the care and standard of living in their household.

Women are an important segment for risk-mitigating

products, such as microinsurance, and with very few

products currently in existence, there is significant potential

for companies looking to tap into the low-income market.

Most microfinance institutions (MFIs), including those in

Women’s World Banking’s global network, have a social

mission. They exist to deliver the financial tools that low-

income people, like all people, need in order to manage

life’s shocks and take advantage of opportunities. But MFIs

have also increasingly come to appreciate the risk that

clients’ health crises pose to their own operations. Clients

frantically selling off everything they own to pay hospital

bills and keep food on the table are unlikely to prioritize

repayment of an outstanding business loan, especially if

they are already out of business anyway. Effective health

insurance, MFIs realized, could be a powerful tool not

only for the clients themselves but as a means to safeguard

their own portfolios.

Women are an important segment for risk-mitigating products,

such as microinsurance, and with very few products currently in

existence, there is significant potential for companies looking to

tap into the low-income market.

The Need

4

Women’s World Banking is a network of 39 microfinance

institutions across the globe collectively serving 19

million clients, 73 percent of whom are women. Women’s

World Banking member institutions share a commitment

to keeping a focus on women, at both the client and the

staff- level, in an industry where “mission drift” away from

women’s issues is a source of increasing concern. The

network is served by a team of experts based in New York

who provide technical assistance, carry out market

research, develop financial products and maintain a

consistent focus on serving women.

Women’s World Banking’s strategy includes a commitment

to developing, incubating, and scaling innovative financial

products that help its member institutions respond to the

needs of their women clients. One key aspect of that strategy

is to conduct intensive research into clients’ needs first,

gaining a full understanding of clients’ financial behaviors

and priorities before any product design begins. The

evolution of the program that became MFW’s Caregiver

pilot was no exception.

In late 2009, Women’s World Banking co-authored a paper 1

regarding gender-sensitive microinsurance for female

clients based on extensive Women’s World Banking research

in more than 15 countries. The findings clearly indicated

the importance of gender to health outcomes. Women’s

more vulnerable health status is very real and is driven

both by nature (heightened risks associated with pregnancy

and childbirth and greater susceptibility to infection) and

by custom (gender-based violence, lower economic status

that leads to lower health-seeking behaviors). And yet, the

majority of microinsurance available precludes care for

many of their most pressing health concerns.

1 Banthia, Anjali, Susan Johnson, Michael J. McCord, and

Brandon Matthews. Microinsurance that Works for Women: Making

Gender-Sensitive Microinsurance Programs (Microinsurance Working

Paper #3). Geneva: International Labour Organization 2009.

With this knowledge, Women’s World Banking set out to

design a product that would be easy to implement,

responsive to women’s needs, and sustainable for the

microfinance institution delivering the product. Women’s

World Banking chose its member institution in Jordan,

the Microfund for Women as a beta site for several

reasons. Client research done in 2006 had indicated that

one of the biggest financial pressures for women in that

market was health expenses and there was interest in a

health insurance product. Perhaps the single most

important factor for any institution contemplating entry

into a new and complex line of business like health

insurance is strong commitment from the top leadership.

MFW’s executives embraced that commitment and

communicated it to the rest of the staff. In addition, the

market conditions were more favorable in Jordan which

has a relatively developed healthcare system compared to

other potential Women’s World Banking markets. Finally,

MFW had already dipped a toe into the microinsurance

market. Three years before, in 2006, MFW had launched a

credit life product, Himaya, designed to pay a benefit to

next-of-kin, and to pay any outstanding loan balance due

to MFW in the event of a client’s death. (See Table 1.)

Products Based on Research



6

2006

2007

2009

jan 2010

feb 2010

mar 2010

apr 2010

april-may 2010

mid-may 2010

jun 2010

sept-o ct 2010

nov 2010

dec 2010

apr 2011

may-dec 2011

late 2011

early 2012

may 2012

july 2012

may-sept 2012

• MFW launches Himaya, a credit life product designed to pay off any outstanding loan

balance to MFW in the event of client death, and to provide a benefit to next-of-kin

• Field research commences into client health needs and related financial needs

• Women’s World Banking/MFW apply for a grant from the ILO Microinsurance

Innovation Facility to design and pilot the product that would become Caregiver.

Grant is approved and research and development process begins with insurer partner

• Himaya coverage expanded to include limited coverage for spouses to address risk of

loss of the breadwinner’s income

• Women’s World Banking forms a global partnership with Zurich Financial Services

(ZFS). Al Manara, ZFS’ local partner in Jordan, is chosen as a local underwriter

• Terms for Caregiver product are agreed to with insurer. MFW begins planning operational

changes (e.g., MIS upgrades, staff training, marketing) in preparation for launch

• Local regulator approves product; MIS changes commence, training and marketing

materials finalized, staff training begins

• Caregiver pilot commences in large MFW branch outside Amman (Ruseifeh)

with 2500 clients

• Intensive, ongoing monitoring of pilot and client feedback

• First claim is paid out: 30 JD paid in 3 days

• Pilot starts in second branch in largest city outside Amman (Irbid)

• Formal review of pilot phase

• MFW board of directors approves full roll-out, sets up internal insurance

department within MFW

• Roll out formally commences in phased manner across all branches

• Roll out completed throughout MFW operation; one-year anniversary celebrated

• Tender process for insurance provider completed and Jordan Insurance Company

is chosen as a new insurance partner

• Ongoing, intensive monitoring of Caregiver program

• Work begins to develop voluntary Family Coverage product with focus group

discussions in two main branches

• Product and operational specifications developed for voluntary

Family Coverage product; negotiations commence for local Insurer partner

• Family Coverage product launched

• Caregiver Individual terms improved—premium reduced by 10% and benefit amount

increases by 50%

• Ongoing monitoring

table 1: timeline



At its launch in April 2010, Caregiver would become the

first health microinsurance program in Jordan and one of

the first in the Middle East region.

Like the rest of the Women’s World Banking network

Microfund for Women has a strong commitment to

serving women clients. More than 97 percent of MFW’s

clients are women, and one clear message emerging from

focus group discussions concerned the importance of

maternity care to these women. The local insurer, Al

Manara Insurance Company, had no experience with

microinsurance and was not familiar with MFW’s

business model or client base but saw the opportunity to

expand their market. Women’s World Banking and MFW

thus invested considerable time educating the local

insurer about the mission-driven nature of MFW’s

operations and the non-negotiable necessity of including

maternity coverage.

For their part, the clients grasped the concept of health

insurance readily enough, but none of them had direct

personal experience using it. MFW staff had (as noted

above) some experience with a credit life product as well

as a strong institutional commitment to health coverage.

But they lacked the crucial hands-on experience of

running a health insurance program.

Therefore, MFW and Women’s World Banking determined

that the prudent course of action was to start small and

simple. Operating processes, policy terms and conditions,

and claims procedures were all designed to be easy to

understand, both for field staff and clients. Ease of

implementation was a critical consideration. The challenge

for selecting the pilot site was that it should be, in fact, one

site rather than multiple sites (to allow for intensive,

ongoing monitoring without having to field multiple

research teams) but that site should be large enough to

yield significant data. In the end, MFW chose one of its

largest semi-urban branches as the pilot site.

Although there are always many complex reasons why

some health microinsurance programs succeed and others

do not, one important factor appears to be whether the

insurance is entirely voluntary or whether it is mandatory

as a condition of access to credit. It is important to

remember that, more so than other financial services,

insurance is a product that only works at scale. Whatever

other variables may be at play, the pool of the insured

must always be sufficiently deep to spread the risk around.

To take one of the best known examples, the Indian health

microinsurance Uplift started out as a voluntary product

in 2003 and struggled unsuccessfully for years to reach scale.

Only when the program was made compulsory for

borrowers in 2008 did enrollment begin to spike sharply

upwards towards the levels needed to achieve sustainability.

For MFW, the practical solution, especially given that

Caregiver was an unfamiliar product concept in a new

market, was to make the insurance mandatory. This solved

the problem of scale, but also increased the pressure to

demonstrate the value of insurance by, for example,

responding to clearly stated customer priorities such as

the maternity coverage noted above. It also solved the

problem of only sick or pregnant women opting into the

program and making it unsustainable.

Finally, as mentioned, there were (and still are) no

regulations for microinsurance in Jordan. Women’s World

Banking and MFW reached out directly to the Jordanian

regulatory authorities to educate them about what the

Caregiver product was trying to achieve. They were able to

obtain specific approval for Caregiver pending eventual

development of a more comprehensive regulatory regime.

Once clients had given their input on product design,

the negotiations had concluded successfully with the

local insurer, the regulators had given approval, and the

client-facing staff had been given initial training, the

Caregiver product (see Table 3) was officially launched

on April 11, 2010.

There were (and still are) no regulations for microinsurance in

Jordan. Women’s World Banking and MFW reached out directly to

the Jordanian regulatory authorities to educate them about what

the Caregiver product was trying to achieve.

Caregiver comes online

Client feedback was very positive right away, especially about the

inclusion of pregnancy coverage, which would ultimately account

for half of all claims filed during Caregiver’s first two years. But

in general, clients reported that they found the Caregiver program

both beneficial and easy to use.

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US$ 1.5 per month2 (payable with regularly scheduled installments of loan repayments)

US$ 14 per night, up to 30 consecutive nights or 45 nights over the course of the term

(usually 12 months) of their loan. An average hospital stay is 3 days.

Unique among microinsurance products, Caregiver benefits can be used to cover indirect

expenses associated with illness or hospitalization. The most critical of these allowed

expenses is the lost income clients experience when they must suspend their business

operations. But other indirect expenses covered by Caregiver include transportation to

and from the hospital, meals, and other incidentals.

None. MFW clients are automatically covered when they take a new loan. There are no

medical examinations and no rejections for preexisting conditions.

Maximum 45 days per term

2 All figures quoted in US dollars using conversion rate that was in place at the time of project pilot.

premium

hospital benefit

other features

exclusions

deductibles, co-pays,

limits per incident,

total limits

table 2: caregiver product at a glance

Client feedback was very positive right away, especially

about the inclusion of pregnancy coverage, which would

ultimately account for half of all claims filed during

Caregiver’s first two years. But in general, clients reported

that they found the Caregiver program both beneficial

and easy to use.

MFW and Women’s World Banking designed the Pilot

Protocol monitoring framework and briefed staff on its key

features well before Caregiver launched. Performance

evaluation is important as it provides insight into how the

new product is performing and helps shape that perfor-

mance. When staff can see in black and white how success

will be defined and measured, they are much better able

to focus their efforts accordingly. For MFW, who were

taking on a health microinsurance program for the first

time, having simple, effective metrics helped advance the

cultural change already underway within the institution.

Among the issues the performance framework sought

to consider:

client feedback. Do they understand the product?

Is it a good fit for their needs? Is the premium affordable?

Can they file claims easily? Would they recommend the

product to others? Will they renew their loans and

insurance coverage?

field sta ff. How are they selling and distributing the

product? How do they see the client reaction? Is the

administrative side easy to understand and implement?

Is the product adding unduly to their workload? Do they

think the product is important? Would they recommend it?

back-office fina nce a nd a dministr ati v e sta ff. How is the workload and process from their point of view?

Are there any MIS or workflow process issues? How are

premium payments and claims handled? Do they

consider this part of normal work or a major new burden?

Do they think the mission value justifies any additional

perceived burden?

m a r k eting a nd tr a ining. How effective is the

marketing material? Do people understand it? Do they

find it compelling and persuasive? How well is training

working? What adjustments need to be made to the

training process?

cla ims per for m a nce. What are the key claims

statistics (claim frequency, claim processing time, claims

ratio)? Do they match projections? Are there significant

positive or negative variances from projections, or trends?

pa rt ner per for m a nce. How is the partnership with

the insurer working? Does each partner better understand

the other’s business?

There are many ways to go about soliciting this kind

of information. These include direct feedback

(e.g., through client and field staff interviews) and

indirect feedback (e.g., from secondary sources, such as

branch staff reporting observed reactions on the part

of clients). MFW and Women’s World Banking gathered

direct and indirect qualitative feedback of these kinds

but also used a set of quantitative performance indicators

developed by the performance working group of the

Microinsurance Network.

MFW and Women’s World Banking had agreed in advance

to run the pilot for six months (soliciting and incorporating

performance feedback during that time) and then do a

detailed pilot review at the end of the six-month period.

Based on the findings of the six-month review, MFW’s board

of directors elected to roll Caregiver out to all branches

nationwide. That roll-out, approved by the board at its

November 2010 meeting, was completed by the April 2011

one-year anniversary of the Caregiver pilot launch.

“For MFW, the Caregiver product met our objectives of a

truly double-bottom line product, says Fatina Abu Okab,

Deputy General Manager, Microfund for Women. “It is

sustainable and it has increased client satisfaction and

retention. We work in a very competitive market and

offering products like insurance give us a real advantage.

Customers see the value and express their appreciation

through loyalty and by telling their friends and neighbors.”

Feedback and Performance



As noted, MFW and Women’s World Banking used a mix

of qualitative (both direct and indirect stakeholder

feedback) and quantitative methods to evaluate Caregiver’s

performance and determine next steps. Below are some of

the major lessons learned.

use of a supplementa l hospita l cash product Having insurance may increase health-seeking behavior.

Some clients advised during enrollment that they had

previously deferred medical care due to financial

constraints but would possibly become more likely to

seek it with the Caregiver product.

Clients appear to be able to use a hospital cash product with

ease, and claims rates may increase over time. As of September

2012, the program has been running for over two years.

Clients in the branches have reported that they find it easy

to use the Caregiver product and to claim a benefit.

Client reaction to a mandatory hospital cash product is

generally positive. Clients’ first priority is applying for a loan

so the Caregiver product may be viewed as an extra bonus.

client a nd field sta ff u ndersta nding Clients need to understand better how to submit claims.

During the pilot, MFW observed that clients understood

the key features of the product and the claims process;

there was mixed response on the information brochure

and some were not aware of the need to include a medical

diagnosis on hospital papers. Based on client feedback,

MFW saw a need to reinforce information about the

product and what the requirements are to submit a claim,

particularly with respect to what information must be

included on a hospital bill. These points were shared with

field staff and were re-emphasized in the training during

the roll out.

Lessons Learned, Part 1: Findings

10

Total number insured since program

commenced in April 2011

Proportion of active clients who are part

of the program

Total from program inception to date

Proportion of premium used to pay

claims (can be an indication of client

value, product design and pricing)

Time from submitting the claim to

receive the compensation (coverage)

by the client

Proportion of claims rejected

definition pilot

target

2011 2012

46,715

56%

3,545

65%

<10 days

< 5%

43,630

61%

1,987

31%

10.0

3.1%

91,044

98%

4,294

31%

9.1

3.5%

number insured total

coverage ratio

number of claims

claims ratio

claims duration

claims rejection

indicator

table 3: key performance indicators for caregiver as of december 2012

Loan officers not familiar with insurance may be reluctant to

offer and service insurance products. MFW loan officers

generally had some reservations before launch about

client reaction and possible claim numbers. The actual

client reaction to the Caregiver product was very positive,

exceeding expectations. Branch staff feedback was positive

as well and Caregiver is now integrated with the ongoing

work of loan officers and others at MFW.

building a nd m a inta ining successful pa rt nerships When multiple stakeholders are involved, partnership terms,

including decision-making processes, should be clearly set

forth from the outset. The Caregiver program’s stakeholders

included MFW, Women’s World Banking as technical

advisor, the local insurer, and that insurer’s parent

company. In addition, Caregiver was, as noted elsewhere,

MFW’s first foray into health insurance and the local

insurer’s first exposure to a microfinance client segment.

With so many players, most of whom were new to the

business, it was essential to agree to concrete terms,

processes and information-sharing protocols.

It is important to invest time to educate an insurer about the

MFI’s clients and its operations and for the MFI to understand

the insurer’s processes and expectations. This can be

encouraged through agreeing in advance on how the launch

will proceed (see above), and to be sure that both parties

are involved throughout planning and implementation.

It is important that the MFI provides meaningful input into

the pricing and product development process. Even though

the local insurer is the implementing partner, the MFI is

the client-facing partner. MFW invested in the success of

the Caregiver product even though the risks were high. Its

willingness to negotiate hard for its priorities proved a

critical factor in the design of the product and ultimately

in its success.

product design It is essential to have detailed client data. MFW collected

detailed client data through prior research and at the

beginning of this project. This data helped to inform the

negotiations of product design and pricing, and ensure a

fit with customer needs, priorities and payment capacity.

The insights gleaned from client focus groups are invaluable

to shape the final product and its features.

It is critical to have insurance expertise to negotiate

appropriate terms with the insurer. As a member of the

Women’s World Banking network, MFW had access to

world-class technical and negotiating expertise. The

outcome for a stand-alone MFI might well have been

very different.

on designing new processes

A pilot phase is ideal for testing new processes on a small

scale to see what works (or doesn’t), then integrate improve-

ments before scaling up. Claim submission requirements

provide an example of the benefit of launching the pilot

of Caregiver in a first, then a second branch. Based on

the initial pilot, MFW learned that both loan officers and

clients had some confusion on this point, perhaps not

surprising since most clients had never filed an insurance

claim prior to Caregiver. As well, not every hospital uses

the same forms and some hospital’s forms do not have

fields to capture all the information that a Caregiver claim

requires. As a result, MFW will continue to evaluate how

to maintain claims submission requirements that are not

too onerous for clients, and how to minimize the burden

on clients when incomplete forms are supplied.

Introduction of new processes should be as light as possible

and flexible to develop efficient methods. Field and branch

staff commented that the processes to implement

Caregiver were easy to get used to and did not impose a

significant extra work burden for loan officers. Loan

officers were able to adapt to the product and process

quickly. MFW was also able to adapt existing processes,

such as accounting for financial reconciliation, to establish

processes for Caregiver.



12

The original Caregiver product provided individual

coverage for the client. But a common message from focus

groups and client interviews was a strong demand for

family coverage, especially for children. So in late 2011,

MFW conducted extensive focus group and demand

research into a Family Coverage product. They also engaged

with the insurer on pricing and product terms. With the

experience of the Caregiver pilot fresh, it was agreed to

launch a Family Coverage product on a pilot basis, in the

original pilot site that had been used for Caregiver. The

Family Coverage product launched in May 2012.

Unlike Caregiver, which is compulsory for all MFW

borrowers, the Family Coverage is voluntary. Otherwise,

the Family Coverage product has the same benefit and

premium structure as the Caregiver individual product, at

least during the pilot stage. Initial sales experience has

been quite positive – more than 100 policies were issued

within the first 10 days. MFW ultimately wants to increase

the benefit to at least JD 20 (US$ 28) per night for a

premium of JD 1 (US$ 1.40) per month. But any such

refinements will depend on the pilot review and

subsequent negotiations with the insurer. The pilot review

will be completed by March 2013.

Lessons Learned, Part II: Putting Findings Into Practice

• Low income clientele (i.e., typical target microinsurance model)

• No specific knowledge of or familiarity with insurance required

• MFI has commitment to launch and manage a microinsurance product

• Strong internal and senior support, including allocation of resources

• Ability to incorporate microinsurance into current processes with limited cost and impact

• Commitment to set up monitoring and evaluation process for microinsurance and

ultimately to incorporate as part of core service offering

• Reasonable public health services in place and accessible to target market

• Cost of health services not excessive

• Ideal partner has prior experience in and understanding of microinsurance and microfinance

• Flexible partner willing to adapt processes and delegate underwriting and claims

management function to MFI

• Enabling (or at least not obstructionist) regulatory regime in place

• Not necessary to have a microinsurance market in place

• Any new microinsurance product will need to integrate with current client usage of other

insurance (including public health insurance)

conditions

client profile

institutional capacity,

vision and commitment

health services

infrastructure

lo cal insurance

partner

legal and regulatory

environment

existing insurance

products and

competitive dynamic

aspect

table 4: success factors for caregiver product



14

Based on the success of the experience in Jordan and the

lessons it provided, Women’s World Banking is currently

conducting client and market research aimed at launching

a Caregiver replicator program in Peru. As it does so,

Women’s World Banking is mindful of the conclusions it

reached regarding the critical conditions for Caregiver to be

effective in Jordan.

Effective microinsurance is not a static “one-size-fits-all”

product. It requires constant evolution and development

to match clients’ needs, cover costs to the provider, and

deliver a return on capital.

In an environment with limited public facilities, for

example, there may be a need for a comprehensive health

insurance covering all costs of hospitalization. In Jordan,

however, there is a reasonable level of public health

services and military-type hospitals that provide affordable

care. Indeed, because more than 80 percent of MFW’s

clients use public or military hospitals, the Caregiver

product was, as noted, designed to provide “gap” coverage

between the public coverage and the actual costs people

faced, including the indirect costs. But in a less developed

context, a Caregiver-type product could well be launched

as a gateway product on the way towards development of

more comprehensive coverage.

If the microfinance industry appears to have saved

microinsurance to tackle last, it may be because the

product is inherently more complex than credit or savings.

Fortunately, the microinsurance industry is coming of age

in a time when the forums and technologies (not to

mention the culture) for sharing data and lessons learned

in microfinance have already become firmly established.

Women’s World Banking is pleased to share what it has

learned, and will continue to learn, from the Caregiver

experience with a broad audience.

Health insurance is one of the most highly demanded

financial products in the world, including among

low-income people. Women’s World Banking’s goal is to

build the capacity of our network members, and of the

industry as a whole, to deliver a quality product, to as

many poor women as possible.

Next Steps and Replication

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investment banking and asset management from a single source. Credit

Suisse provides specialist advisory services, comprehensive solutions and

innovative products to companies, institutional clients and high net worth

private clients worldwide, and also to retail clients in Switzerland. Credit

Suisse is headquartered in Zurich and operates in over 50 countries world-

wide. The group employs approximately 46,300 people. The registered

shares (CSGN) of Credit Suisse’s parent company, Credit Suisse Group

AG, are listed in Switzerland and, in the form of American Depositary

Shares (CS), in New York. Further information about Credit Suisse can be

found at www.credit-suisse.com The commitment by Credit Suisse to

capacity building is in perfect alignment with our strategy of partnering

with institutions to ensure they are able to introduce products that fit the

needs of women. Credit Suisse has been at the forefront of microfinance

over the last decade: from the 2003 co-founding of responsAbility Social

Investments AG to the 2008 launch of the Microfinance Capacity

Building Initiative (MCBI), a grant-funded initiative to support the

development of the human and institutional capacity of the sector, Credit

Suisse has continually demonstrated its commitment to developing

innovative solutions that link the top with the base of the income pyramid

and promote financial inclusion. The MCBI enables MFIs to develop the

people, processes and products they need in order to meet their social and

financial goals. It contributes to the quality training of thousands of

staff at MFIs through its best-in-class partners and also fosters research,

innovation and constructive dialogue to spread best practices in the industry.

women’s world banking is the global non-profit devoted to giving

more low-income women access to the financial tools and resources

essential to their security and prosperity. For more than 35 years we have

worked with financial institutions to show them the benefit of investing

in women as clients, and as leaders. We equip these institutions to meet

women’s needs through authoritative market research, leadership

training, sustainable financial products and consumer education.

Headquartered in New York, Women’s World Banking works with 39

institutions in 28 countries with a reach of 14 million women to create

access to finance on a greater scale that ever before.



• Development and implementation of product development process. It may be a new

discipline for an organization to take the time to follow research, including extensive

background market research, and develop a product on that basis

• Bring internal stakeholders together to identify key process requirements

• Set a pilot protocol before launch to set clear objectives for the pilot

• Engage regularly with pilot sites to monitor progress

• Resolve any initial operational challenges, including revisions to operating

policies if necessary

• Produce policy and administration manuals

• Handle claims administration and resolve any issues at branch/field level and/or

with the insurer

• Incorporate lessons learned from the pilot into any revisions to product/process/people

for the roll out

• Stagger the roll out over a reasonable timeframe

• Scale up support and monitoring capability

• Integrate product into normal services and business as usual

• Continual monitoring and incorporation of microinsurance’s key performance indicators

into usual management reporting

• Apply continual client and product feedback

change

pre-launch

pilot phase

roll out

post roll out

ongoing

phase

table 5: institutional change pro cess, by phase

Of great importance to Women’s World Banking is helping its member institutions manage change. As a network of practitioner

institutions, Women’s World Banking believes that excellent customer service depends on strong institutions. Strong institutions,

in turn, must commit to continuous innovation, constantly seeking to understand what their customers need and adapting their

products and processes to meet those needs. Based on the MFW experience, Women’s World Banking mapped the change management

milestones for each phase of a Caregiver replication.

womensworldbanking.org

@womensworldbnkg

facebo ok.com/womensworldbanking

Copyright 2012 Women’s World Banking

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